Politics as Usual Keeps ‘Related’ Government Campus in the Boca Conversation

Should Boca Raton let a private developer build a new government campus in return for being allowed to put up a lot of new downtown housing?

And is that private developer really interested?

A new government campus could include a new city hall, police station, community center and recreation complex. The properties include the tennis center, ballfields, a skateboard park and a basketball court. Photo courtesy of the City of Boca Raton.

The idea likely will come up next Wednesday when the city holds an open house on the campus from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the downtown library. With their consultant, Song & Associates, city officials will hear ideas for those 28-plus acres on either side of Northwest Second Avenue north of Palmetto Park Road. Few would have more impact than turning over the project to Miami-based Related, one of the country’s largest residential developers.

Last October, Related Vice President William Shewalter wrote to Mayor Susan Haynie. Related, Shewalter said, “would like to engage in a discussion of potential amenities and ideas which might permit a significant ‘value added’ benefit to this initiative as well as provide some process ideas.” Shewalter said the company wanted to make a presentation to the mayor and council.

For a long time, nothing happened. Haynie wasn’t interested in private participation. City politics, however, has kept the idea alive.

During the May goal-setting session, BocaWatch Publisher Al Zucaro touted Related’s participation. Zucaro challenged Haynie in the March election. More recently, he has used BocaWatch to criticize Haynie for not considering Related’s offer.

Aside from a revenge factor, Zucaro’s support is hard to reconcile with his past statements. On BocaWatch and as a candidate, Zucaro has complained about downtown residential overdevelopment. Yet Related would want either to acquire some of those 28 city-owned acres or other public property for even more residential development.

In an email, Zucaro said he had no “relationship with Related.” He was a city commissioner in West Palm Beach when Related helped to develop the CityPlace project—I was working for The Palm Beach Post at the same time—and believes, “based upon my personal experiences, that they are an outstanding organization and should be given an opportunity to present a plan, especially one that may result in significant benefit to the resident.”

Zucaro did not explain what that “significant benefit” might be. Presumably, however, it would be fronting part or all of the money for the campus, which could include a new city hall, police station and community center and new recreation complex. The properties include the tennis center, ballfields, a skateboard park and a basketball court. Related, though, surely would want a lot in return.

Another interesting angle is the involvement of Glenn Gromann, who served for nearly a decade on the planning and zoning board. Gromann said he is “an independent consultant” for Related and has registered as a lobbyist, though he doesn’t characterize his contribution as lobbying. Gromann said he has “specialized knowledge” of downtown development in Boca Raton. In an email, Gromann said, “I can assure you that the pursuit of this matter and getting the city to do the right thing will be unrelenting.”

In March, when Gromann came up for reappointment to the planning and zoning board, BocaWatch ran a commentary calling Gromann “Resident-Unfriendly Personified.” BocaWatch previously had criticized Gromann repeatedly for what Zucaro considered Gromann’s pro-development philosophy. Gromann withdrew from consideration for a new term, though he claimed that the reason was business opportunities, not the BocaWatch piece.

Soon thereafter, BocaWatch began offering Gromann space for his thoughts—unedited, as with seemingly everything on BocaWatch—on development. Gromann and Zucaro now are aligned in their belief that the city should give Related a hearing. In an email, Zucaro said Gromann “has opinions and knowledge that are useful in fostering the public debate.”

Three years ago, Shewalter worked for Elad. In 2014, Elad Properties proposed four condo towers averaging roughly 300 feet for Mizner Boulevard. After the city council refused even to consider New Mizner on the Green, Elad shrunk the project to Mizner 200, which goes to the council—as the community redevelopment agency—on July 24.

Amid all the opposition to New Mizner on the Green, Gromann said, “It’s going to put Boca on the map.”

Haynie remains concerned that there isn’t room within those 28 acres for “all the desires people have for the campus.” She also worries about “accountability” if the city were to turn over construction “of such an important project” to a private company.

On June 2, Councilman Robert Weinroth emailed City Manager Leif Ahnell to say that it “would be beneficial” for Ahnell and/or Deputy City Manager George Brown to meet with Related and “flesh out their thoughts.” Councilwoman Andrea O’Rourke said she does not have “a formed opinion” on the idea.

Perhaps Related doesn’t have one, either. I contacted a Related representative on Tuesday, seeking to interview Shewalter. The representative emailed back to say that she had been trying to find “information on the Boca Raton government campus and The Related Group’s supposed interest. . .” I sent a copy of the letter Boca Raton got from Shewalter, who is not registered as a lobbyist. The next response from the Related representative? “Unfortunately, it’s no comment at this moment.”

More on Gromann

Another aspect of this activity regarding Related and the government campus is Gromann’s characterization of himself as a major real estate intermediary.

In an email, Gromann said he “got Toll Brothers to bid” on the western golf course, thus starting the process that has led to three $73 million offers for the course and the possible acquisition of the Ocean Breeze course. “I am in almost daily contact with major developers,” Gromann said, “trying to get them to enter the market. . .”

Gromann also said he has talked to All Aboard Florida about a Brightline station for Boca Raton. The new passenger service will have stations in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. All are part of mixed-use projects, especially the station in Miami. There would seem to be no need or room for a station in Boca. On that topic, an All Aboard Florida spokeswoman said the company is focused on launching the first phase of the service.

Mizner Amphitheater replacement?

Another related—as opposed to Related—aspect of the campus discussion is the talk that AEG is interested in building a performance venue at de Hoernle Park.

Los Angeles-based AEG bills itself as “one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world.” The company books acts at the Mizner Park Amphitheater. Among the many ideas for Boca’s campus is a performing arts center that might displace the amphitheater.

The city, which took over the amphitheater from the Center for the Arts in 2010, operates the facility as an amenity. It loses money. What AEG might want from the city besides land for its venue would be just one of many questions. Would a performing arts center make sense for the campus? If it displaced the amphitheater, what would go on the amphitheater site? The Boca Raton Museum of Art has expressed interest. All these questions likely will come up next week.

Next steps in sober home regulation

Delray Beach’s next sober home regulation, which I discussed on Tuesday, is on Monday’s agenda of the planning and zoning board. If the board recommends approval, the item would go before the city commission next month.

Controversial beach-side property gets construction permit

The controversial property at 2500 North Ocean Blvd. in Boca Raton has received its construction permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. There is no indication, however, that work will begin soon.

In December 2015, the city council—with Jeremy Rodgers dissenting—approved a zoning variance that could allow a four-story, single-family home on the undersized lot. The city’s planning staff legal department recommended approval, noting that the owner had not caused the conditions that created the lot size.

Though the city could have faced a lawsuit by denying the request, the decision was controversial because the lot is on the beach side of A1A. The zoning board of adjustment also denied the request.

Despite the DEP permit, a city spokeswoman said the status of the project with the city is “under review.” She added that the city is “waiting for information from the petitioner.” The owner of the property is Natural Lands LLC. Its principal is Gavriel Naim, who is a partner in Beach Hill Capital Partners, a private real estate investment company.

Eat trash!

After hearing repeated complaints from residents about trash in canals, the Boca Raton City Council has asked staff to include money in next year’s budget to purchase and staff a skimmer boat.

As the name implies, the vessel removes trash from waterways the same way a backyard device skims leaves and other objects from pools. Baltimore uses one to collect trash from the Inner Harbor, the hub of the city’s tourist district. Boca Raton’s purchase will come as the city seeks to finalize the waterfront master plan.

No swim zone

Unfortunately, that master plan probably can’t address water quality. On Wednesday, Boca Raton announced beach closures at Spanish River and South Inlet parks. The Florida Department of Health found excessive levels of bacteria in the water. Most likely, heavy rains this month have caused higher-than-normal runoff, which carries waste from our suburban lifestyle.

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Glenn E. Gromann

Realizing as we all do that Randy Schulz and Bocamag are the mouthpiece of the political establishment in Boca and are fed stories to suit a particular purpose, most particularly the interests of Mayor (and not necessarily at her behest), lets correct some of the misstatements. First Mayor Haynie is ONE VOICE among five (5) council members. Second, Mayor Haynie has not refused to do anything, she has merely expressed concerns about the size of any redevelopment and whether there is enough land to accomplish the task. THE CONCERN AND CONCEPT THAT SOMEHOW THE CITY COULD DO A BETTER AND MORE COST EFFECTIVE JOB THAN THE RELATED GROUP IS LAUGHABLE the $14MM Downtown library that should have cost $7MM and the western library debacle which descended into litigation and was an unmitigated 3 year disaster is proof positive. Related and others do successful PPP’s everywhere. A new performing arts center might be in the mix. I defy Mr. Schulz to debate that point with me. Neither the members of the City Council nor the P&Z Board have ever themselves built a major project in their lives. Just think about the statement… “accountability” if the city were to turn over construction “of such an important project” to a private company” and how absurd that is. Mayor Haynie would never say such a thing! The City does not construct buildings! They hire private contractors just like anyone else–they only manage the process! Yes Mr. Zucaro currently has NOTHING to do with Related and I cannot help the fact that he had a great experience with them in WPB, a great coup for that City (CityPlace) modeled of course after Mizner Park. On the dishonest media front why not contact Mr. Shewalter directly, and what has Elad have to do with this, Related is a multi-billion dollar entity you don’t call the “front desk” asking for info on a specific project. I am glad Mr. Schulz thinks he knows what Related proposal is. Since Related has not yet spoken in detail with the City Manager I guess he has taken up mindreading. Yes I did not seek reappointment to P&Z based on conflicts that the Related proposal and others, would create–a great business opportunity. If the City wants to waste and expend taxpayer money instead of following a 30+ plus year track record of successful land swaps, etc. so be it. Further, my friend Larry Snowden (who helped Mayor Haynie get elected) was one of the other P&Z applicants. I suppose that Mr. Schulz will attack him because he knows me……Yes I did in fact work with Toll to kick off what would eventually become the proposed sale of the western Golf course, yes Related Group did bid on that too? I wrote exactly one (1) article for Bocawatch on my traffic suggestions for Midtown, for which Mr. Zucaro was widely attacked! I DID THAT BECAUSE I LIVE THERE! John Crean and Keith O’Donnell also wrote an article are they bad guys too? Isn’t journalism supposed to reflect the free discussion of ideas? Dishonest media and unsubstantiated attacks just don’t occur in the national media. That being said what possible harm could come from TALKING through opportunities, the taxpayers deserve this.

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